In this interactive workshop for people with OCD, attendees will practice identifying obsessions and trying out various exercises to change how they relate to them. Drawing from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a newer cognitive behavioral approach with research support for OCD, attendees will learn strategies for transforming how they experience their obsessions. ACT focuses on changing the context in which thoughts are experienced in order to change the function of them, and to help create mental distance from unhelpful thinking. Attendees will practice several ACT exercises for addressing distressing thoughts in novel ways. Attendees will also learn to how to use technology (e.g., smart phone apps) to create low intensity exposure exercises for common obsessions.
ERP is an effective, yet demanding treatment for OCD, making motivation essential to its success. Unfortunately, misconceptions about motivation can make it difficult for individuals to stay engaged. In order to help those with OCD enhance treatment motivation, panelists will present a framework for conceptualizing motivation as a skill, examining the common roadblocks, and identifying specific strategies for maintaining motivation across treatment and beyond. Presenters will integrate current research/clinical insights with lessons learned from their own experiences going through OCD treatment to provide attendees with practical, tailored motivational skills. Strategies for reframing attitudes towards anxiety and using the "greater good perspective shift" to enhance motivation will be provided. Overall, this panel will provide an interactive and inspirational venue for those with OCD to enhance treatment motivation.
Panelists will explore challenges related to the experience and treatment of scrupulosity. First, panelists will give brief presentations on scrupulosity. A therapist-audience dialogue will follow, consisting of a Q&A about symptoms and treatment obstacles, and an open conversation about unique challenges that arise when OCD becomes entangled with religion or morality. Sample issues include: What role does religion have in OCD? How can someone with OCD be religious but not scrupulous? Can one engage in exposures without violating religious law? How can scrupulous individuals interact with clergy in a way consistent with their values and still healthy in terms of OCD? In discussing these questions, the conversation will remain grounded in practical treatment issues and clinical application.
Are you constantly questioning your relationship and/or your loved one's characteristics? Do you want to call it quits, but want to know with a 100% certainty that it's the right thing to do? Do you keep opening doors to find answers but discover more uncertainty? Are you experiencing extreme guilt, anxiety, frustration, and/or regret? This workshop will help attendees to learn how to identify relationship OCD (rOCD) and to recognize their compulsions. We will practice therapy strategies to start accepting feelings brought in by rOCD. Attendees will prepare a short, mild script and participate in an imaginary exposure, if they would like. The goal of this workshop is to give people hope and the knowledge that they can have a meaningful and loving relationship without having to open the doors of uncertainty.
View slides here: http://www.slideshare.net/IOCDF/annabella-hagen-relationship-ocd-and-the-doors-of-uncertainty
Contamination is a common theme in the world of OCD and can encompass a number of different categories. In environmental contamination, for example, individuals fear power lines, radiation, WiFi, microwaves, and other energy based sources they fear can cause a life threatening illness. Others fear household and other chemicals such as cleaning products, gasoline, oils, even soap based supplies. These profiles appear differently than individuals who fear contamination from eating certain foods, or from dirt and germs. This presentation will discuss these varying contamination categories in detail, how they differ, treatment plans, and case examples. Time will be allotted for audience Q&A.
OCD sufferers who experience persistent hyper-awareness of bodily sensations or body vigilance are often overlooked. This preoccupation or focus on automatic bodily processes or discrete physical sensations can range from frustrating to totally debilitating, depending on severity. Sufferers are often misdiagnosed, very depressed, and fear that this type of OCD is untreatable.
This workshop will examine common sensorimotor obsessions seen in practice: swallowing, blinking, breathing, pulse/heartbeat, ear ringing, visual distractions, awareness of specific body parts, and others. Case examples will illustrate successful treatment techniques. Attendees may address specific sensation concerns and leave with new-found hope that their distress can, indeed, be treated.